Assist grips are installed on a ceiling surface inside a vehicle compartment to provide a support for vehicle occupants in the compartment. This kind of assist grips having such a structure that cavities are formed at opposite sides of a grip body and hinge assemblies are installed in cavities in a rotatable fashion, and the grip body is rotatably mounted via the hinge assemblies have been used in various automobiles.
As disclosed in, for example, JP2009-121633 A, this assist grip includes hinge assemblies at opposite sides thereof mounting clips made of metal, and is mounted by the mounting clips so as to be secured to a body panel of a vehicle body. This mounting clip is formed of a metal having spring resiliency into a substantially U-shape, and fitted into a hinge body so as to cover a center support plate of the hinge body of the hinge assembly. For mounting on the vehicle body, there is a structure of fitting the mounting clips into rectangular holes formed on the body panel of the vehicle body to engage engaging portions of bulging portions provided at both sides of each of the mounting clips with the periphery of the rectangular hole of the body panel, for securing the assist grip to the vehicle body.
Meanwhile, the assist grip is demounted from the vehicle body in some cases such as repair of the vehicle body. For demounting the assist grip from the vehicle body, covers are removed from the hinge bodies at opposite sides, resilient legs at both sides of each of the mounting clips fitted inside the hinge body are flexed inward, and engaging pawls provided in the bulging portions at intermediate positions are flexed inward. Thereby, the engaging pawls of the mounting clip are disengaged from the periphery of the rectangular hole, the mounting clip is pulled out of the rectangular hole, and then the hinge bodies at opposite sides are removed from the vehicle body to demount the assist grip from the vehicle body.
However, in the mounting clips used for the conventional assist grip, as described in the above Patent Document (JP2009-121633A), the engaging pawls provided in the bulging portions bulging at both sides of an intermediate portion of each of the mounting clips are relatively short, and bent in substantially laid V-shapes, and the laid V-shaped engaging pawls are engaged with the periphery of the rectangular hole formed on the body panel. Therefore, when the mounting clips are removed, an operator uses a tool or the like for each mounting clip located inside of the hinge body to flex the engaging pawls of the bulging portions in such a manner as to pinch them from both sides for removal, but since the engaging pawls are short, the operator cannot easily observe the engaging pawls in the hinge body, and a tool or the like does not easily catch thereon. Accordingly, it is difficult to demount the assist grip from the body panel, and there has been a problem in demounting workability of the assist grip.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object to provide an assist grip which allows easy removal of the mounting clips from the hinge bodies secured to a body panel of a vehicle body for simple demounting of the hinge bodies from the body panel in the case of repair and the like. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.